The present disclosure relates to a customer service routing system and method. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a simplified customer service routing system and method that reduces the amount of time and effort spent by a customer before reaching an appropriate customer service representative.
Customers of computer and peripheral equipment are often provided with troubleshooting tips in the documentation accompanying the purchased equipment that aid the customer in overcoming problems he or she is having with the equipment. Where the customer cannot solve the problem after having consulted the troubleshooting tips, the customer normally can call a customer service line to receive help from a customer service representative.
Often times, the equipment vendor sells many different products. Because of this fact, many vendors employ customer service representatives trained as to particular products or product lines only. To ensure the customer reaches a customer service representative knowledgeable about the particular product about which the customer is calling, equipment vendors frequently use call routing systems. Common routing systems are used to obtain preliminary information from the customer about the product(s) about which the customer is calling. By way of example, the routing system may play recorded questions for the customer that prompt the customer for particular information about the product at issue. The customer can respond to the questions by entering numbers on his or her telephone keypad that are received by the routing system. Typically, the questions are directed questions in the form of xe2x80x9cIf you are calling about [product 1], press one. If you are calling about [product 2], press 2xe2x80x9d and so forth. Once the customer responses are received, they are used to route the call to an appropriate customer service representative.
In many current routing systems, the customer is required to answer many different questions before he or she can reach a live human being to discuss the problem being experienced. Often, the customer will not know the answer to one or more of the questions and will have to terminate the call, find the answer(s) to the question(s), and call again, starting from the beginning of the routing process. Understandably, this routing process can be very frustrating for the customer, particularly where it takes several minutes or even several calls before the customer can reach a live human being. Accordingly, it can be appreciated that it would be desirable to have a simplified customer service routing system and method that reduces the amount of time and effort spent by a customer before reaching an appropriate customer service representative.
The present disclosure relates to a customer service routing system and method. The routing system is configured for receiving an incoming service inquiry from a customer, prompting the customer to input a product serial number, receiving the serial number input by the customer, and directing the customer inquiry to a customer service representative based upon the customer response.
In view of this functionality, the routing system can be described as comprising means for receiving an incoming service inquiry from a customer, means for prompting the customer to input a product serial number, means for receiving the serial number input by the customer, and means for directing the customer inquiry to a customer service representative based upon the customer response.
Alternatively, the routing system can be described as comprising logic configured to receive an incoming service inquiry from a customer, logic configured to prompt the customer to input a product serial number, logic configured to receive the serial number input by the customer, and logic configured to direct the customer inquiry to a customer service representative based upon the customer response.
The features and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.